Getting Supplies

One of the most time-consuming and stressful parts of my project so far has been buying supplies. For my project, I decided to use soft cotton flannel, which is relatively expensive (about $7.00 per yard). I had a bit of trouble trying to find fabric that had both good quality and was relatively cheap, since I would be buying it in bulk.

I had heard before from lots of people to use smaller, locally owned shops and stores, but I was never able to find enough material to use. Because I didn't want to clean out smaller stores only to have to visit multiple others, I decided to try to buy my fabric at a bigger, corporate store: Joann's.

I tried multiple times to contact a store manager or even to pitch my case at a corporate level, but I always got automated messages back (which was expected but still frustrating). So rather than try to get personal discounts for my project, I decided to take advantage of coupons and sales.

Lucky for me, March is Craft Month, so I came across multiple sales for soft cotton flannel, and good ones, too! For the most part, I was able to save about 50% on all of my fabric and even a few miscellaneous supplies.

I went shopping three times, and on each occasion, I spent between $200 and $300 and bought enough fabric for about 30 blankets. It ended up taking me about 45 minutes just to get my fabric picked out and matched, and another 45 to get it cut.

Looking back, I wish I would have used a few smaller stores to try to get large personal discounts, but buying from a larger store allowed me to have a much larger selection of fabric and score such large savings.

Where'd the Money Come From?

So how did I raise funds to pay for these baby blankets? One thing's for sure- it was much easier than I expected.

I was truly amazed at the generosity of the community and how much people wanted to be involved in my project; it was so inspiring to have my entire community behind me, supporting both my project and myself in earning this award.

My first move to raise funds was through my church. We have announcements before mass every Sunday, so I went to my priest and deacon to ask for a day to present to the congregation about my project. On my day, I went up in front of everyone shortly before mass and made a short speech about my project. I presented to two different mass times that day, and I raised about $350 from those two speeches. It was so amazing to see all of the support in donations of both money and time from all of the parishioners!

I also employed the help of my mom's coworkers. She is an accountant at an engineering firm and we posted some flyers around the office to raise awareness of my project. From this, at least so far, I have raised about $200 and a few volunteers to help me sew the actual blankets.

If I could give any advice for raising money for any non-profit project, it would be to tell everyone you know or meet about your project- you don't know what kind of generosity will come your way!

Welcome!

First and foremost, thank you for visiting my blog for my Girl Scout Gold Award!!

My name is Maddie Haneke, and I am a Senior Girl Scout who is currently working on her Gold Award.

With my first sample blanket

This blog accounts for the "global connection" aspect of my project, and it aims to educate others on what my project is all about and how I went about earning it.




Thanks again for coming!!